Sāʿ

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Moroccan Sāʿ vessel made of copper for the measurement of Zakāt al-fitr from the time of the Merinids

The Sāʿ ( Arabic صاع, DMG ṣāʿ ) is an Arabic measure of capacity that plays an important role in Islamic norms . It has a volume of 2.75 to 4.2125 liters . According to classical teaching, 1 Sāʿ = 4 Mudd . The exact meaning of the word Sāʿ is not known, but it is related to the Koranic word ṣuwāʿ ("cup"), which occurs in the Koranic story about Joseph ( Sura 12:72 ).

Original spread

According to Shams ad-Dīn al-Maqdisī , who lived at the end of the 10th century, the Sāʿ, along with the Mudd and the Makkūk, belonged to the dimensions of the Arabian Peninsula. On the ships there were two different Sā units, a small one used to measure the wages of the sailors, and a large one used in commercial transactions. As the Kufic scholar Abū ʿUbaid al-Qāsim ibn Sallām (d. 838) reports in his Kitāb al-Amwāl ("Book of Assets"), the Sāʿ was one of the eight measures of measurement that he used in the traditions of the Prophet, the Sahāba and found the next generation of Muslims.

Meaning in Islam

Like the Mudd, the Sāʿ has a quasi-holy rank in Islam. According to a hadith , which has been narrated in various versions about Anas ibn Mālik and which has also found inclusion in the Saheeh al-Buchari , on his return from his campaign to Chaibar , Mohammed asked God to bless the Sa and the Mudd of the Muslims.

The Sāʿ also plays a central role in Islamic norms. As Abū ʿUbaid explains in his Kitāb al-Amwāl , all commandments of Muslims, for which they are responsible in their religion, are based on Sāʿ. As examples he cites the zakāt on land, the sadaqat al-fitr , a compulsory alms-giving that must be given on the feast of the breaking of the fast , the atonement for breaking an oath ( kaffārat al-yamīn ) and the atonement on pilgrimage ( fidyat an -nusk ).

As for the Sadaqat al-fitr, also called Zakāt al-fitr, it is worth one Sāʿ of wheat per family member. Abū ʿUbaid explains that dates or barley can also be given as a substitute. If only half a Sāʿ of wheat is given, it will do the duty. In this case, however, it would be better to give a Sāʿ of dates or barley, because this would keep the traditions even more precise. In Fez , the rule was that in the event that the needy received large quantities of grain when the neighbors distributed zakāt al-fitr, they had to pass the surplus on to other needy people. You should only keep one Sāʿ per family member at a time.

The atonement is an achievement that the pilgrim must perform if, for an excusable reason, he has shaved off the hair of his head while in the Ihrām state. In this case, he must make up for this wrongdoing either by slaughtering a sheep or by giving alms from 3 Sāʿ in food.

The Sāʿ is also considered to be the minimum amount of water that must be available to perform a valid ghusl . This view is based on various hadith , according to which Mohammed used a mudd in wudoo ' and a sāʿ in ghusl.

The "Sāʿ of the Prophet"

Because of the great importance of the Sāʿ in Islamic norms, the "Sā„ of the Prophet "( ṣāʿ an-nabī ) had a very important meaning as a standard. The Syrian scholar an-Nawawī (d. 1277), for example, therefore considered it mandatory to use a Sāʿ vessel when measuring, which was calibrated on a Sāʿ vessel from the time of the Messenger of God. Only if such a vessel is not available can other calculations be used. A group of scholars have said that in this case the Sāʿ can also be measured with the two hands held together, in which case four double handfuls of a man of medium height count as one Sāʿ.

In order to measure the Sāʿ, vessels representing the “Sāʿ of the Prophet” were held in various places. In the Maghreb some such Sāʿ measuring vessels have also survived, which were made for the measurement of Zakāt al-fitr. An example is a Sāʿ measuring vessel made of copper for the Merinid sultan Abū l-Hasan ʿAlī ibn ʿUthmān (r. 1331–1351). An inscription attached to the vessel contains a long chain of narration through which the calibration of the measuring vessel is traced back to the prophet's companion Zaid ibn Thābit . The vessel has a volume of 2.75 liters .

The Mudd, which corresponds to a quarter of Sāʿ, was also based on the “Sāʿ of the Prophet”. The Egyptian scholar Ibn ar-Rifʿa (d. 1310), who worked as Muhtasib in Cairo , reports that he found a mudd vessel made of copper in the Hisba house in Cairo, which was calibrated on the “Sāʿ of the Prophet”. An inscription, which was engraved in the vessel, announced that it had been made by an earlier muhtasib during the reign of the Ayyubid al-ʿAzīz on 18 Rabīʿ al-awwal 591 (= March 2, 1195). If you filled it with water, that water weighed 373 dirhams . Based on this news, Walther Hinz concludes that the “Sāʿ of the Prophet” corresponds to exactly 4.2125 liters.

Relation to other Arabic units of measurement

Volume units

With regard to the relationship to other measures of measure there is agreement among the Arab authors that 1 Sāʿ = 4 Mudd. However, this only applies to the canonical mudd, as considerably larger mudd units of measurement later appeared in some places. The relationship to Makkūk is given differently. While according to Abū ʿUbaid ibn Sallām 1 Makkūk = 2 1/2 Sāʿ, Shams ad-Dīn al-Maqdisī writes that in the Hejaz 1 Sāʿ 1/3 Makkūk.

A similar size ratio as to the Makkūk apparently also applied to the Faraq , because Abū ʿUbaid explains that 1 Faraq = 3 Sāʿ. It also states that 1 Wasq = 60 Sāʿ and 1 Qist = 1/2 Sāʿ. According to Hinz, the Qist corresponds to the Greek Xestes . Az-Zahrāwī mentions a different size ratio for this. He explains that among the Rhomeans 1 Sāʿ = 10 Xestes.

According to Sufyan al-Thawri (d. 778) and the Hanafites the Sā' with was Qafīz Haddschādschī identical, a Qafīz -Hohlmaß that of Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf was used and supposedly to the Sā' of Umar (ruled 634–644). This was also called Qafīz Hāschimī . Another name for this Sāʿ was Machtūm ("the sealed one"), because, as Abū ʿUbaid ibn Sallām explains, because the rulers stamped the respective vessels with an embossed seal so that no one increased or decreased the amount. The doctrine that the Sāʿ is identical with the Qafīz Hajādschī, however, did not gain acceptance until the middle of the 8th century. The Kufic traditionarian ʿAbd ar-Rahmān ibn Abī Lailā (died approx. 701) still taught that the Sāʿ is greater than the Qafīz Hajādschī. His son Muhammad ibn ʿAbd ar-Rahmān ibn Abī Lailā (d. 765), who served as Qādī of Kufa under the last Umaiyads , weakened this: “The Sāʿ is like the Hajjādjī or somewhat heavier”.

Weight units

When converting the Sāʿ to Ratl , the weight of lentils or native beans , as shown here, was used.

The Sāʿ was also related to various units of weight. Here, lenses or mash , i.e. H. Urdbohnen , used as a unit of measurement, as they have a relatively uniform mass density . The basis for all other calculations was the relationship to the Ratl . There were essentially two different views on this:

  • 1 Sāʿ = 8 ratl. ʿUmar ibn al-Chattāb is said to have used this size ratio as a basis when he atone for breaches of oath. The inhabitants of Kufa , as al-Chārizmī writes, and the inhabitants of Iraq also adhered to this size ratio . They assumed that 1 Mudd = 2 Ratl. Sufyān ath-Thaurī justified this doctrine with the fact that the Qafīz Hajjājī , with which the Sāʿ was identical in his opinion, corresponded to 8 Ratl. Since Abū Hanīfa (d. 767) and his student Muhammad asch-Schaibānī (d. 805) also considered this size ratio to be correct, it became the dominant doctrine of the Hanafis. They justified it with a hadith handed down about Anas ibn Mālik , according to which the Prophet performed his wudoo ' with a mudd of two ratl and his ghusl with a sa of eight ratl. This Sāʿ was lost for a while, but was then restored by al-Hajjaj ibn Yūsuf. Taking into account the fact that according to canonical teaching 1 man = 2 Ratl, 1 Sā S = 4 men also counted among the Hanafites. Since 1 Iraqi Ratl = 20 istār is 6 1/2 dirhams , the Hanafis also taught that 1 Sāʿ = 1040 dirhams.
  • 1 Sāʿ = 5 1/3 ratl. Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀs is said to have reduced the Sāʿ to this ratio when he was governor of Medina under Muʿāwiya I (r. 656–670) . And the people of Medina adhered to this proportion. After Abū ʿUbaid, this size ratio was known far and wide among the people of the Hejaz and was also taken as a basis in the markets. Even Malik ibn Anas (d. 795), Shafi'i (d. 820) and Yazīd ibn Hārūn (d. 821) considered this size ratio is right. According to a report that has been handed down by various Arab authors, once asch-Shāfiʿī and the Hanafi scholar Abū Yūsuf (d. 798) quarreled in Medina before the Abbasid caliph Hārūn ar-Raschīd (r. 786–809) about the measure of the Sāʿ. The caliph then had the descendants of the Muhādschirūn bring the Sāʿ vessels that they had inherited from their ancestors. When it turned out that the measure given by Ash-Shāfiʿī (1 Sāʿ = 4 Mudd = 5 1/3 Iraqi Ratl) was correct, Abū Yūsuf is said to have agreed with his opinion. Ibn ʿĀbidīn writes that Abu Hanīfa's second disciple, Muhammad ash-Shaibānī, also adopted this view, but this is not confirmed by any other source. Later scholars who declared this proportion to be correct included Ibn Rāhwayh (d. 853) and Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 855). Taking into account the fact that 1 ratl = 130 dirhams in Baghdad, the equation has also been established by some scholars: 1 Sāʿ = 693 1/3 dirham.

As Badr ad-Dīn al-ʿAinī (1361–1451) reports, some scholars have tried to explain the two different views of the relationship between Sāʿ and Ratl with local differences in the ratl weights: While the Ratl in the Hejaz had 30 istār , it was only 20 istar difficult in Baghdad. Eight Ratl of Baghdad would therefore correspond to exactly 5 1/3 Ratl of the Hejaz, so one comes to the same weight in both calculations. However, in the reports on the examination of the Sāʿ by Hārūn ar-Raschīd it is stated explicitly that the Sāʿ vessels brought in corresponded to 5 1/3 Iraqi (!) Ratl.

In addition to the two main doctrines (1 Sāʿ = 8 Ratl and 5 1/3 Ratl), there were also various other opinions about the relationship between Sāʿ and Ratl. For example, the Kufic Qādī Sharīk ibn ʿAbdallāh (d. 794) assumed a weight of 7 to 8 ratls for the Sāʿ. And the Imamite Shiites, who also differentiated between Iraqi and Medin Ratl when calculating the Sāʿ, taught: 1 Sāʿ = 9 Iraqi Ratl = 6 Medinian Ratl. They assumed that 1 Mudd = 2 1/4 Iraqi Ratl = 1 1/2 Medical Ratl. For dairy products, however, 1 Sā 1 = 4 Iraqi Ratl applied. For the Syrian Ratl, which corresponded to 600 dirhams and was therefore considerably heavier, Ibn ʿĀbidīn (d. 1836) states: 1 Sāʿ = 1 1/2 Ratl.

The non-binding nature of the weight calculation

An-Nawawī , however, pointed out that attempts to relate the Sāʿ to units of weight were only used for illustration ( istiẓhār ), but were in no way binding, because the Sā Gewicht was not a measure of weight but a measure of volume. Depending on the type of crop being measured ( millet , chickpea, etc.), the weight of a Sāʿ varies. Therefore, you have to focus on the volume and not on the weight. It is mandatory to use a Sāʿ vessel that is calibrated on a Sāʿ vessel from the time of the Messenger of God. Only if such a vessel is not available can one fall back on the Ratl calculation.

literature

Arabic sources
  • Abū-ʿUbaid al-Qāsim Ibn-Sallām: al-Amwāl . Ed. Muḥammad al-ʿAmmāra. Dār aš-Šurūq, Beirut, 1989. pp. 615–627. Digitized
  • Abū-ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad Ibn-Aḥmad al-Ḫwārizmī: Kitāb Mafātīḥ al-ʿulūm . Ed. Gerlof van Vloten. Brill, Leiden, 1895. p. 14. Digitized
  • Shams ad-Dīn al-Maqdisī : Kitāb Aḥsan at-taqāsīm fī maʿrifat al-aqālīm. Ed. MJ de Goeje. 2nd ed. Brill, Leiden 1906. pp. 98f. Digitized
Secondary literature
  • Alfred Bel: "Ṣāʿ" in Encyclopedia of Islam Brill, Leiden, 1913–1936. Vol. IV, p. 1. Digitized
  • Alfred Bel: "Note sur trois anciens vases de cuivre gravé trouvés à Fès et servant à mesurer l'aumône légale du fitr." in Bulletin archéologique 1917. pp. 359-387. Digitized
  • Walther Hinz: Islamic measures and weights. Converted into the metric system. EJ Brill, Leiden / Cologne 1970, p. 51.
  • Simon Keijzer: Précis de Jurisprudence Musulmane selon le rite Châfeite, par Abou Chodjâʾ. Publication du texte arabe, avec traduction et annotations . Brill, Leiden, 1859. p. 79. Digitized
  • Cengiz Kellek: "Sâʿ" in Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi Vol. XXXV, pp. 317c-319c. Digitized
  • Paul Pascon: "Description des mudd et ṣāʿ Maghribins" in Hespéris Tamuda 16 (1975) pp. 25-88 digitized
  • MH Sauvaire: "Matériaux pour servir à l'histoire de la numismatique et de la métrologie musulmanes" in Journal Asiatique VIII / 7 (1886) 394-417 digitized .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Shams ad-Dīn al-Maqdisī: Kitāb Aḥsan at-taqāsīm . 1906, p. 99.
  2. ↑ Abū ʿUbaid Ibn-Sallām: al-Amwāl . 1989, p. 615.
  3. ↑ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Buḫārī, Kitāb al-Ǧihād wa-s-Siyar, No. 2732. Online version on Wikisource
  4. ↑ Abū ʿUbaid Ibn-Sallām: al-Amwāl . 1989, p. 624.
  5. ↑ Abū ʿUbaid Ibn-Sallām: al-Amwāl . 1989, p. 624.
  6. ↑ Bel: "Note sur trois anciens vases". 1917, p. 363.
  7. ↑ Sauvaire: "Matériaux". 1886, p. 408.
  8. ↑ Bel: "Ṣāʿ" in Encyclopedia of Islam . Vol. IV, p. 1.
  9. ↑ Abū ʿUbaid Ibn-Sallām: al-Amwāl . 1989, p. 615.
  10. ↑ Quoted in Keijzer: Précis de Jurisprudence Musulmane selon le rite Châfeite . 1859. p. 79.
  11. ↑ Bel: "Note sur trois anciens vases". 1917, p. 370.
  12. ↑ Bel: "Note sur trois anciens vases". 1917, pp. 364, 366.
  13. ↑ Bel: "Note sur trois anciens vases". 1917, p. 370.
  14. ↑ Bel: "Note sur trois anciens vases". 1917, pp. 364, 366.
  15. ↑ Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Ibn al-Rifʿa: Kitāb al-Īḍāḥ wa-al-tibyān fī maʿrifat al-mikyāl wa-al-mīzān . Ed. Muḥammad Aḥmad Ismāʿīl al-Ḫarūf. Dār al-Fikr, Damascus 1980. pp. 74f. Digitized
  16. ↑ Hinz: Islamic Measures and Weights. 1970, p. 51.
  17. ↑ In Damascus, for example, 1 Mudd = 2 Sāʿ was valid in the 18th century, cf. Sauvaire: "Matériaux". 1886, pp. 410–412, in Tunis 1 Mudd = 3 Sāʿ, cf. Sauvaire: "Matériaux". 1886, p. 414.
  18. ↑ Abū ʿUbaid Ibn-Sallām: al-Amwāl . 1989, p. 624.
  19. ↑ Shams ad-Dīn al-Maqdisī: Kitāb Aḥsan at-taqāsīm . 1906, p. 98.
  20. ↑ Abū ʿUbaid Ibn-Sallām: al-Amwāl . 1989, p. 618.
  21. ↑ Hinz: Islamic Measures and Weights. 1970, p. 50.
  22. ↑ Henri Sauvaire ". Arab Metrology V. Ez-Zahrâwy" in The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 16 (1884) 495-524. Here p. 512 digitized
  23. ↑ Abū ʿUbaid Ibn-Sallām: al-Amwāl . 1989, p. 620.
  24. ↑ Sauvaire: "Matériaux". 1886, pp. 404, 414.
  25. ↑ Abū ʿUbaid Ibn-Sallām: al-Amwāl . 1989, p. 619.
  26. ↑ Abū ʿUbaid Ibn-Sallām: al-Amwāl . 1989, p. 619.
  27. ↑ Cf. Sauvaire: "Matériaux". 1886, pp. 412f.
  28. ↑ Cf. ʿAbd-ar-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad Shaiḫīzāda: Maǧmaʿ al-anhur fī šarḥ Multaqā 'l-abḥur . Ed. Ḫalīl ʿUmrān al-Manṣūr. Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīya, Beirut, 1998. Vol. I, p. 338 Digitalisat and Sauvaire: "Matériaux". 1886, p. 413f.
  29. ↑ Shams ad-Dīn al-Maqdisī: Kitāb Aḥsan at-taqāsīm . 1906, p. 98.
  30. ↑ Al-Ḫwārizmī: Kitāb Mafātīḥ al-ʿulūm . 1895, p. 14.
  31. ↑ Abū ʿUbaid Ibn-Sallām: al-Amwāl . 1989, p. 619.
  32. ↑ Sauvaire: "Matériaux". 1886, p. 403.
  33. ↑ Sauvaire: "Matériaux". 1886, p. 404.
  34. ↑ Sauvaire: "Matériaux". 1886, p. 406.
  35. ↑ Sauvaire: "Matériaux". 1886, p. 408.
  36. ↑ Sauvaire: "Matériaux". 1886, p. 407.
  37. ↑ Sauvaire: "Matériaux". 1886, pp. 408, 413.
  38. ↑ Shams ad-Dīn al-Maqdisī: Kitāb Aḥsan at-taqāsīm . 1906, p. 98.
  39. ↑ Abū ʿUbaid Ibn-Sallām: al-Amwāl . 1989, p. 620.
  40. ↑ Sauvaire: "Matériaux". 1886, p. 406.
  41. ↑ Abū ʿUbaid Ibn-Sallām: al-Amwāl . 1989, p. 621.
  42. ↑ Cf. al-Ǧuwainī : Muġīṯ al-ḫalq fī tarǧīḥ al-qaul al-ḥaqq . Cairo 1934. pp. 19f. Digitized
  43. ↑ Cf. Sauvaire: "Matériaux". 1886, p. 410.
  44. ↑ Sauvaire: "Matériaux". 1886, pp. 404-406.
  45. ↑ Sauvaire: "Matériaux". 1886, p. 400f.
  46. ↑ Sauvaire: "Matériaux". 1886, pp. 406f.
  47. ↑ Cf. Sauvaire: "Matériaux". 1886, pp. 405f.
  48. ↑ Abū ʿUbaid Ibn-Sallām: al-Amwāl . 1989, p. 619.
  49. ↑ Cf. Sauvaire: "Matériaux". 1886, pp. 409f.
  50. ↑ Amédéé Querry: Droit Musulman: recueil de lois concernant les Musulmans Schyites . Imprimerie Nationale, Paris, 1871. Vol. I, p. 172 Digitized
  51. ↑ Sauvaire: "Matériaux". 1886, p. 412.
  52. ↑ Quoted in Keijzer: Précis de Jurisprudence Musulmane selon le rite Châfeite . 1859, p. 79.